My Gen X Playlist: The Lucky One – Alison Krauss and Union Station

When I have trouble sleeping, I put a podcast on to distract my thoughts. Usually that does the trick and puts me right to sleep. I was listening to This American Life the other night. This time I tried staying awake to listen all the way through.

This episode was about a boy who went on a family road trip to the petrified forest. While there, he decided to break off a piece for a souvenir. He hid it safely as they left the national park.

Fast forward forty years. His daughter discovers an article about people becoming cursed for removing pieces of the petrified forest. He hit the rewind button, recounted moments in his life and mentally made a pile of evidence supporting the curse’s claim. It seems his bad luck list read a mile long. Under his new lens, a curse made total sense.

I personally am not a believer in curses (knock on wood). Instead, I think we have a way of making our own good or bad luck. When I look back at my own mishaps, I can pinpoint a few decision points I could have made differently to avoid starring my own shit show. So I have to say, the blame was really on me. Is there really such thing as good or bad luck? Possibly, sure. But it’s probably the exception not the rule.

I was thinking of songs about luck. Alison Krauss came to mind. She released The Lucky One back in 2001. I first discovered her music randomly about ten years ago while listening to Pandora. Her music kept coming on until I finally added her directly. I’ve been a fan ever since.

What surprised me the most was learning she was the number one female Grammy winner until she was unseated by Beyoncé in 2021. She’s won 27 Grammy awards from 42 nominations. I was surprised I’d never heard of her until then. Then again, I didn’t grow up listening to bluegrass or country. I’m just glad I discovered her music. Maybe there was a little bit of luck in that. Who’s to say.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

You're the lucky one
So I've been told
As free as the wind
Blowing down the road
Loved by many, hated by none
I'd say you're lucky 'cause I know what you've done
Not a care in the world
Not a worry in sight
Everything's gonna be alright
'Cause you're the lucky one

You're the lucky one
Always having fun
A jack of all trades a master none

You look at the world with a smiling eye
And laugh at the devil as his train goes by
Give you a song and a one night stand
And you'll be looking at a happy man
'Cause you're the lucky one
Well you're blessed I guess
By never knowing which road you're choosing
To you the next best thing
To playing and winning is playing and losing

You're the lucky one
I know that now
Don't ask you why, when, where, or how

You look at the world through your smiling eye
And laugh at the devil as his train goes by
Give you a song and a one night stand
And you'll be looking at a happy man
'Cause you're the lucky one
Well you're blessed I guess
By never knowing which road you're choosing
To you the next best thing
To playing and winning is playing and losing

You're the lucky one I know that now
Don't ask you why, when, where, or how
No matter where you're at, it's where you'll be
You can bet your luck won't follow me
Just give you a song and a one night stand
And you'll be looking at a happy man
'Cause you're the lucky one

He immediately mailed back the rock with an apology letter asking for forgiveness and absolution. It turns out, he wasn’t alone. They’ve received hundreds of similar confessions, all desperately seeking to shed their curse.

I typically don’t categorize people as lucky or unlucky because I believe eight times out of ten we have a hand in our own making. I could be wrong for making an over generalization. Random shit outside our control does happen. That seems more one offs than the norm. But I guess it feels better to say I had a string of bad luck than to own it. I get it.